With the fantastic past two seasons Radamel Falcao has enjoyed at Porto, and the success he had in Europe last season, you can see why big name clubs would be interested in the 25 year old Colombian. He has now been strongly linked to Chelsea, under the guidance of former Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas, in a move which would re-unite the duo who helped the Portuguese club to the treble in 2010/11.
It is rumoured that Chelsea may have to fight Real Madrid to capture the signature of Falcao, who has a £26million release clause in his contract, which both teams are reportedly willing to pay for his services. With the poor form that Fernando Torres showed last season for Chelsea, Villas-Boas may well want to ensure the goals start flowing again next season by introducing another proven goalscorer into the pecking order.
Where better to start than a player he has worked well with before and who has over 70 goals in 2 seasons at his former club. However, the lure of playing football at Real Madrid under Mourinho would surely be tempting for Falcao. Even so, I think the Premiership would be a better move for him, as it could be easier to make a bigger impact in the Chelsea team, without having to try and compete with the big characters and goalscoring force of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Higuain.
With the possible departure of ageing strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, it could be a good time for Falcao to make an entrance into the Chelsea squad and secure a place on the team sheet. Considering their history, I can see Villas-Boas giving Falcao plenty of opportunities in the first team, ones which he may not necessarily get as regularly at Madrid in his first season, meaning that he can really try and fit into Chelsea’s system and build up a rapport with his team-mates.
As well as his proven technique and goalscoring ability, Falcao is an extremely competent header of the ball. This could benefit Chelsea a great deal as they use width and wingers who can get crosses in, giving the opportunity for another dimension to their attacking play with an aerial option. If I were a Chelsea fan, then I would be excited about the prospect of having him at the club because he looks ambitious and hungry for goals whenever he plays.
He gets ahead of defenders in the area, giving himself that little bit of space he needs to poach goals, a bit like Hernandez did for United in his first season. The Colombian is also used to having quality supporting players around him helping to fashion out chances such as Hulk, Guarin and Moutinho. I think he would inject that little bit of desire and energy into the Chelsea front line and allow them to surprise defenders and cause more problems in the opposition penalty area. Not only could Falcao score goals and turn games in their favour, but he could re-invigorate Torres and be a key piece in the puzzle of getting Chelsea’s attack firing on all cylinders.
One potential pitfall with Falcao is injury. In 2006 he injured knee ligaments which meant he had to endure a lengthy spell on the sidelines. His comeback at Argentinian side River Plate was halted until late 2007 after further minor injuries extended his time away from the pitch. The Premier League is physical and although he seems to have the strength and power to perform well, his place on the team sheet may well have to be covered. He previously said that he is ‘convinced he can play in a superior league like England’, and at £26million, one of the top clubs should be snapping him up whilst he is still in his prime, injury free and on top of his game.
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falcaozz perfect 4 chelsea….as torres in off form,drogba n anelkazzzz 2 aged m sturridge mayb sold…..thts y he is perfect….n lukaku seem 2 b a gr8 partner 4 him…..accuracy(falcao) n strength(lukaku),isnt tht perfect avb
Not a bad choice, but we’ve just buy Torres in January and Falcao is similar type. In my opinion the Blue need second striker to support the target man like Aguero or winger forward like Hulk, Neymar.
Yeh thats true, but will a support striker provide enough goals in that position – i think Villas-Boas might change the shape a little bit in the search for goals. If an out and out goalscorer is the way he wants to go, then i think Falcao would be good. Its hard to tell until they play a few games though with a new manager. It might even be the case that Villas-Boas thinks Falcao is too good not to bring to the club, and having worked with him before, and will buy him and fit him into the squad somewhere even it means compromising the team shape for now
“As well as his proven technique and goalscoring ability, Falcao is an extremely competent header of the ball. This could benefit Chelsea a great deal as they use width and wingers who can get crosses in, giving the opportunity for another dimension to their attacking play with an aerial option.”
I believe we have sold robben and duff a long time ago, there is no wingers or players that gets around for crosses on chelsea anymore. Cole is the only rare exception, but in return it leaves us wide open for counter attacks down his side. Chelsea also already have a long list of great headers, but other then random free kicks and corners there is no service atm.
The positions chelsea is in desperate need for is two fast wingers with the ability to get past defenders for crosses (hulk, sanchez) and a creative midfielder (Thiago(barcelona), moderic or snejder).
Yeh well said. It was kind of hard to explain my point without rambling! Players like Malouda, Kalou, even Anelka have used their pace to run at defenders, and if Chelsea had another man in the middle creating space and dragging defenders around it would mean that even if the wingers went past their man, the defence would have to cover both options. Depending on the opponents, when Chelsea do get men forward, they have someone in the box making space for men arriving late or for the man on the ball to run into. But on the counter attack, its always good to have a man in the middle who can head well if their is not direct route for the final ball on the floor. I do agree in the fact that they may also need to buy a winger though, especially if anyone leaves.
Anelka and maloudas problem is that they aint true wingers/wide forwards, they keep drifting towards the middle of the pitch and mess up our build up play and crowd areas with chelsea players. Kalou I have no idea what he is doing most of the time 😛 .
When it comes to counter attacks, what I wouldnt give to have a fast player like robben again, remember how he positioned himself as a lone striker when the other team won a corner ? It was almost like the other team was giving us the advantage when they had corner.
Finally on everyone saying we should sign falcao based on all his goals, do you all remember kezman who totally flopped and also had alot of goals before he came to us ?
chelsea needs a striker, and i agreed with you , falcao is the right man …his performance during the last year allowed him to be catalogued the best world- scorer in international competitions in the 2011 with 11 goals by the Federation International of History and Statistic of Soccer (Iffhs, by its abbreviations in English), way ahead of messi and ronaldo
Exaclty, and £26millions sounds a lot but is a good price for that goal return considering how much you have to pay for anyone half-decent these days
he is a good striker but chelsea needs now is a creative midfielder and a good passer of the ball.
he would be perfect for chelsea to fit in with Anelka leaving if not this year then next and Drogba getting too old